Cuesta Rey

When I opened my humidor tonight to pick a cigar, I noticed some bloom on one of them and I decided to smoke that particular cigar right away. It was the Cuesta-Rey Centenario No. 5 Maduro, a 139mm long 53 ring size cigar from the Dominican republic with a sun grown USA Connecticut wrapper and a Dominican binder and filler.

The wrapper is nice and dark, with some veins. The downside is that the wrapper contains some color differences. The band is one of the prettiest I’ve seen so far, very arty and colorful, but I’d rather have a pretty cigar then a pretty band. The predraw was a bit hard, but not so hard that I would call it bad. The cigar smells like manure and dry hay.

After lighting I can taste leather and a bit of hay. Soon a hint of cacao shows up on the background. The leather isn’t any like the Cuban kind of leather, this flavor is much smoother and lighter. Halfway the cacao grows stronger and it keeps growing stronger when I get to the turning point. Right before I reach the turning point I can taste a strong fresh mint.

It took me about 65 minutes to finish this cigar. The smoke is a bit light, but the ash is pretty, firm and almost white.